{"id":5301,"date":"2018-12-10T18:27:31","date_gmt":"2018-12-10T18:27:31","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.styledeals.co.uk\/blog\/push-for-alternative-to-leasehold-system\/"},"modified":"2018-12-10T18:27:31","modified_gmt":"2018-12-10T18:27:31","slug":"push-for-alternative-to-leasehold-system","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.styledeals.co.uk\/blog\/push-for-alternative-to-leasehold-system\/","title":{"rendered":"Push for alternative to leasehold system"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<div property=\"articleBody\">\n<figure class=\"media-landscape no-caption full-width lead\"><span class=\"image-and-copyright-container\"><\/p>\n<p>                <img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"js-image-replace\" alt=\"Row of houses\" src=\"https:\/\/ichef.bbci.co.uk\/news\/320\/cpsprodpb\/17FB8\/production\/_104723289_e0c1d27f-b293-49d6-a329-1f421d259b09.jpg\" width=\"976\" height=\"549\"\/><span class=\"off-screen\">Image copyright<\/span><br \/>\n                 <span class=\"story-image-copyright\">Getty Creative<\/span><\/p>\n<p>            <\/span><\/p>\n<\/figure>\n<p class=\"story-body__introduction\">Expansion of the commonhold system of home ownership as an alternative to leasehold tenancies has been urged by the government&#8217;s law reform adviser.<\/p>\n<p>Commonhold &#8211; where people own their homes without an expiring lease &#8211; was introduced 14 years ago, but has been little-used.<\/p>\n<p>Meanwhile, there have been widespread complaints about the leasehold system.<\/p>\n<p>The Law Commission wants commonhold to be more widely available in England and Wales and is consulting on reforms.<\/p>\n<p>Under a leasehold, the person has the right to use the property, but they still have to get their landlord&#8217;s permission for any work or changes to their home.<\/p>\n<p>Leaseholders typically complain about being over-charged by managing agents for repairs to common areas, such as roofs, or about punitive ground rents.<\/p>\n<p>It can also be expensive to extend a lease, and in some cases leases have been sold on at inflated prices.<\/p>\n<p>Four million people in England own leasehold properties.<\/p>\n<ul class=\"story-body__unordered-list\">\n<li class=\"story-body__list-item\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.bbc.co.uk\/news\/business-42439155\" class=\"story-body__link\">Leaseholds banned on new-build property<\/a><\/li>\n<li class=\"story-body__list-item\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.bbc.co.uk\/news\/business-38827661\" class=\"story-body__link\">The leasehold property trap<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>The Law Commission says commonhold gives ownership and control of the block to flat owners, as it is managed by a company made up of the owners. Properties are owned forever under the system.<\/p>\n<p>However, since the Commonhold Act came into force in 2004, only 20 commonhold developments have been created &#8211; including just one in London, and one in Manchester.<\/p>\n<p>The Law Commission says low take-up has been attributed to a range of reasons, including shortcomings in the law governing commonhold; mortgage lenders&#8217; unwillingness to lend on such properties; a lack of awareness of the system; and existing financial incentives for developers to use leasehold.<\/p>\n<p>It has launched a consultation on the issue, to help develop recommendations for the government.<\/p>\n<hr class=\"story-body__line\"\/>\n<h2 class=\"story-body__crosshead\">What is Commonhold?<\/h2>\n<figure class=\"media-landscape no-caption full-width\"><span class=\"image-and-copyright-container\"><\/p>\n<p>                 <span class=\"off-screen\">Image copyright<\/span><br \/>\n                 <span class=\"story-image-copyright\">Getty Images<\/span><\/p>\n<p>            <\/span><\/p>\n<\/figure>\n<ul class=\"story-body__unordered-list\">\n<li class=\"story-body__list-item\">Commonhold allows residents to own their flats or houses outright, similar to freehold<\/li>\n<li class=\"story-body__list-item\">Commonholders have no landlord<\/li>\n<li class=\"story-body__list-item\">There are no leases to expire <\/li>\n<li class=\"story-body__list-item\">Residents are members of the management company, allowing them to vote on matters to do with upkeep<\/li>\n<li class=\"story-body__list-item\">Properties can be sold on as commonhold, unless 80% of owners agree to go to leasehold<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<hr class=\"story-body__line\"\/>\n<p>The Law Commission said reforms would:<\/p>\n<ul class=\"story-body__unordered-list\">\n<li class=\"story-body__list-item\">Allow a commonhold development to include both residential units, as well as commercial units such as restaurants and shops<\/li>\n<li class=\"story-body__list-item\">Make it easier to convert from leasehold to commonhold<\/li>\n<li class=\"story-body__list-item\">Increase lender confidence in commonhold and so increase the choice of mortgage lenders available<\/li>\n<li class=\"story-body__list-item\">Replace service charges set by a landlord with commonhold contributions which have to be approved by a majority of those paying them<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Professor Nick Hopkins, from the Law Commission, said commonhold provided a &#8220;once in a generation opportunity to rethink how we own property&#8221;.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;It involves a culture change, moving away from an &#8216;us and them&#8217; mindset,&#8221; he said.<\/p>\n<p>The government has already promised to ban compulsory leasehold agreements on new-build properties.<\/p>\n<p>The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government said: &#8220;The government supports the use of commonhold and is committed to exploring the benefits of all types of tenure to offer greater choice for homeowners.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;We welcome the work that the Law Commission is undertaking on commonhold and want to hear views from as many people as possible.&#8221;<\/p>\n<hr class=\"story-body__line\"\/>\n<h2 class=\"story-body__crosshead\">What is a leasehold?<\/h2>\n<ul class=\"story-body__unordered-list\">\n<li class=\"story-body__list-item\">Someone who owns a property outright, including the land it is built on, is a freeholder.<\/li>\n<li class=\"story-body__list-item\">Most houses are freehold but some might be leasehold &#8211; usually through shared-ownership schemes.<\/li>\n<li class=\"story-body__list-item\">With a leasehold, the person owns a lease which gives them the right to use the property. <\/li>\n<li class=\"story-body__list-item\">But they still have to get their landlord&#8217;s permission for any work or changes to their homes.<\/li>\n<li class=\"story-body__list-item\">Leaseholders have to pay their freeholders ground rent plus other fees in order to make changes to their homes.<\/li>\n<li class=\"story-body__list-item\">Non-payment of fees means a landlord can seek to forfeit the lease at any point.<\/li>\n<li class=\"story-body__list-item\">When the lease ends, the property returns to the freeholder unless the person can extend the lease.<\/li>\n<li class=\"story-body__list-item\">Some leaseholders wish to buy their freeholds to save themselves these costs.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><i>Source: The Money Advice Service\/Leasehold Knowledge Partnership<\/i><\/p>\n<figure class=\"media-landscape no-caption full-width\"><span class=\"image-and-copyright-container\"><\/p>\n<p>            <\/span><\/p>\n<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<p><br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.bbc.co.uk\/news\/uk-46508795\">Source<\/a> by <a href=\"\">[author_name]<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Image copyright Getty Creative Expansion of the commonhold system of home ownership as an alternative to leasehold tenancies has been urged by the government&#8217;s law reform adviser. Commonhold &#8211; where people own their homes without an expiring lease &#8211; was introduced 14 years ago, but has been little-used. Meanwhile, there have been widespread complaints about &hellip; <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":5302,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5301","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-general"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.styledeals.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5301","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.styledeals.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.styledeals.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.styledeals.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5301"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.styledeals.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5301\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.styledeals.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5302"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.styledeals.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5301"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.styledeals.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5301"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.styledeals.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5301"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}